Devin Raposo is a longtime fan and player of games who has been thinking critically about games and game design for a long time. Writing has been a passion of his for a long time, and he also loves programming. He is a student at the University of Central Florida studying Computer Science.

Arkedo Series was developed by Arkedo Studio and published by Sanuk Games. It was released on October 16, 2012 for $5.99. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

The Arkedo Series, an anthology of games by Arkedo Studio, is a throwback to times long past. When games were more about the intense challenge that came through hard and sometimes frustrating game design than they were about technical breakthroughs. A time when games didn’t hold the player’s hand as much and respected them as a player.

The download comes with three of the games previously released on the PlayStation Network, including JUMP!, a collect-a-thon game where the player must grab bombs and escape before time runs out. SWAP!, a puzzle game where the player must match four or more blocks of the same color in a row by swapping them around. Last, but not least, PIXEL!, an action-adventure style platformer where the player takes control of a cat and navigates through treacherous worlds.

Directly from Sony comes a new, and free, game for the PlayStation Vita called Frobisher Says! Filled to the brim with 50 different mini-games, Sony is offering this new game for free on Tuesday, October 23 in order to increase the appeal of the Vita to players who are more interested in lighter experiences.

The games have been designed to take full advantage of the Vita’s unique features, such as the front and rear-facing touchscreens, the gyro sensor, the front and rear cameras, and the portability which encourages up to eight players to participate at once in certain games. It can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store next week for the low, low price of free!

SEGA of America has announced that their Sega Genesis classics ToeJam & Earl and ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron will be rereleasing on the PlayStation Network on November 6 for $4.99 MSRP each.

In the beloved original ToeJam & Earl, a fan-favorite, players help aliens ToeJam & Earl to explore the planet Earth and recover the pieces of their fragmented ship. The game’s sequel, Panic on Funkotron, sees the heroes returning to their home planet, unknowingly carrying on-board some earthen stowaways!

SEGA notes that the games have been updated to include online cooperative play, as well as full trophy support.

The long-awaited first game The Unfinished Swan of three, part of an exclusivity contract between Sony and developer Giant Sparrow, with help from Sony Santa Monica, is finally releasing onto the PlayStation Network on October 23, and PlayStation Plus users can get early access to the game a week earlier on October 16.

Priced at $14.99 MSRP, this atmospheric dream-like game is the story of a boy named Monroe who is chasing, as the title implies, an unfinished painting of a swan which has escaped from its portrait, painted by Monroe’s own mother. Monroe must travel through an abstract world where white space and complex geometry are only the surface of the intriguing concepts this game provides.

Originally conceptualized all the way back in February 2008, The Unfinished Swan began as a simple game about shooting black paint in a completely white world to see what the environment has in store for the player, but after Sony took notice of an expanded prototype, the company offered Giant Sparrow an “incubation deal” to work on their opus. On October 23, the long journey to catch the swan will finally pay off for Giant Sparrow.

In an era where Diablo-like games have made a huge resurgence with titles such as Runic Games’ Torchlight I and II, often hastily developed to precede Blizzard’s own launch of Diablo III, the usual elements players expect and their actual execution quickly give away what constitutes a worthy entry in the genre.

Realms of Ancient War, commonly abbreviated as RAW, is a role-playing game in which the player controls one of three pretty typical fantasy classes: a warrior, a mage, or a rogue. Each play as one might expect; the warrior is an up-close and personal melee style character, the mage uses offensive and defensive spells, and the rogue can shoot arrows and also use a dagger for close combat, making her the most well-rounded character in the game. Alone, you must spelunk through dungeons, defeating enemies and looting for treasures along the way. Unfortunately it seems that Wizarbox’s attempt in Realms of Ancient War has proven itself to be a tattered recollection of fallen times.

Developer Sparpweed, currently working on the cooperative PlayStation Network platformer Ibb and Obb, has just announced that, against some of its best wishes, the team has decided to implement online cooperative support for the game in order to best accommodate all users. While this adds a rather large workload to the at-the-time nearly complete game, the team believes that doing so will help to ship a much better product.

Still, adding a component to the game at the scale of online multiplayer does add more development time to the game. Sparpweed adds that it knows that releasing the game soon wouldn’t help the game’s chances of being noticed, so the later release date could be beneficial to both the game and its sales, in the long run.